England U21 boss Stuart Pearce says Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere wants to go to the European Championships.
Pearce has defied Arsene Wenger by picking the Arsenal midfielder for England's provisional European Under-21 Championship squad.
He said: "He reminds me of Gascoigne. He loves to play football.
"I had a conversation with Jack a month ago and said to him, 'You've played a lot of games, what are your thoughts on the summer?'.
"He wants to go. And you ask him the question, 'Why do you want to go?' He wants to go because he is enjoying his time."
He pointed out the most successful sides in European football in the past decade - Spain, Italy and Germany - had all built on the foundations laid by winning the Under-21 Championship.
Pearce, who earned 78 caps for England during his career, added: "At Italia 90, having never played a tournament at youth level and had 20 senior caps to my name, nothing prepared me for stepping out at that World Cup and the nerves.
"Now, it's my job to make sure that our young players don't suffer from those nerves that probably inhibited me for the first group matches.
"I have to make sure that they have a better education in international football than I certainly did as a player.
"Arsene, I've got the utmost respect for.
"His proviso is to be successful for Arsenal Football Club and however many hundreds of thousands of supporters that they have.
"My proviso is to be successful at under-21 level and make sure that these players step on the international stage and learn to win together. I've got duty of care for maybe 60 million people in this country.
"It's not good for us to turn around every two years and have this root-and-branch inquiry after a World Cup or a European Championship at senior level without addressing things now.
"Now's the time to go to major tournaments with your best players and try to get a trophy in the cabinet - like our under-17s have done just recently - and build on what the under-21s have done.
"I can't name a club side or a national side anywhere in the world that gets to a major final and then leaves his best players at home. It's doesn't happen."
